Believe, obey, fight. Political Socialization of Youth in Fascist Italy, 1922-1943

365 Pages·1987·14.618 MB·English

by  Tracy H. Koon

Believe
Obey
Fight

TRA C Y H KO O N
Believe
Obey
Political Socialization
of Youth in Fascist Italy,
1 9 2 2 - 1 9 4 3
University of North Carolina Press
Chapel Hill and London
O 1983 The University of North Carotina Press
All rigbt* received
Manufactured in the United Stalea of America
Library of Coogresa Cataloging in Publication Data
Koon, Tkacy H.t 1945-
Bdieve, obey, fight.
Bibliography: p.
1. Faaciam—Italy—Hiatory. 2. Italy—Mitica
and government—1922-1943. 3. Faaciam and youth—
Italy. 4. Youth—Italy—Political activity. I. Title.
DG371.K66 1983 943.091 84-28002
BUN 0-8078-1632-3
To my m other and to
the m em ory o f my father

The first step in liquidating a people . . . is to erase its memory.
Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have som ebody
w rite new books, m anufacture a new culture, invent a new his­
tory. Before long the nation w ill begin to forget w hat it is and
w hat it was.
Totalitarianism is not only hell, but also the dream o f paradise
—
the age-old dream o f a w orld w here everybody w ould live in har­
m ony, united by a single com m on w ill and faith, w ithout secrets
from one another. . . . If totalitarianism did not exploit these ar­
chetypes, w hich are deep inside u sa li. . . it could never attract
so m any people, especially during the early phases o f its exis­
ten ce. Once the dream o f paradise starts to turn into reality,
how ever, here and dure people begin to crop up who stand in its
w ay, and so rulers o f paradise m ust build a little gulag on the
sid e o f Eden. In the course o f tim e this gulag grow s ever bigger
and m ore perfect, w hile the adjoining paradise gets ever sm aller
and poorer.
— M ilan Kundera,
The Book o f Laughter and Forgetting

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction XV
CH AP T E R O N E
“The Kingdom of the Word”
3
CH AP T E R TW O
“The Most Fascist Reform” 33
CH AP T E R TH R E E
The New Spirit in die Schools 60
CH AP T E R FO U R
The Regime’s ”Breeding Ground” 90
CH AP T E R F IVE
The Battle for Custody of the Child 116
CH AP T E R SIX
The “New Imperial Clim ate” 143
CH AP T E R SE VE N
Formation of the Fascist Ruling Gass 184
C H AP T E R E IG H T
“The Long Voyage” 217
Abbreviations
253
Notes
255
Bibliography 305
Index 331